The City Nature Division of Portland Parks & Recreation (PP&R), the Wildland Unit of Portland Fire & Rescue (PF&R), and the Willamette Watershed Group of the Portland Bureau of Environmental Services (BES), have scheduled a prescriptive burn to take place on Friday, September 7.

The St. Johns Prairie area of Baltimore Woods Natural Area, once a thriving oak savannah, has been degraded by the encroachment of highly flammable, non-native species. This controlled burn is one of many tools that PP&R will use to restore the health of the two-acre site.

Earlier this summer, Portland non-profit Depave partnered with PP&R, other City Bureaus, and community organizations to transform a two-acre parking lot into the Baltimore Woods Connectivity Corridor. What was once asphalt is now an Oregon white oak and native wildflower meadow- soon to be enhanced by this prescriptive burn.

NOTE: Due to light smoke lingering in the air, visitors are encouraged to avoid the area on the day of the burn.